Today, the First Lady’s office announced plans for the White House Dance Series: A Tribute to Judith Jamison. The September 7 event will honor Jamison, the former dancer and outgoing artistic director (after 20 years) of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

This Program will also include the cast of Billy Elliot. Dayton Tavares, Alex Ko, Jacob Clemente and Liam Redhead will perform at The White House Dance Series: A Tribute to Judith Jameson, hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama, on September 7. The event will honor Broadway vet, choreographer and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater artistic director Jameson, and will feature ballet, hip hop, Broadway and modern dance performances. This events fallows the Broadway night. I watched the live web-cast of this event. I thought is was great and despite the great Elaine Stritch forgetting the lyrics to her song I’m still here. It was a great moment and look forward to seeing the PBS edit of the event.

The pundits in camp Rush will have a hay-day with this, I applaud this. Obama is taking note and stressing the arts, lets hope this shows a long-term commitment to arts growth and education.